Apple Studios Photography

5 Things You Should Never Do Yourself

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:36:00 -0500

I have to agree with this article from PDN. Take the time to read it. It will give you some great insight.

Essential Legal Workflow -- St. Robert Seminar

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:02:00 -0500

For those of you that missed the St. Robert presentation, click here for a link to a podcast of the seminar.

Or, you can subscribe to the podcast feed and get it into iTunes by clicking here.

You can find a link to the PowerPoint slides by clicking here.

Should Photographers Delete Their Pintrest Accounts?

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:00:00 -0500

Last month, attorney and photographer Kirsten Kowalski deleted her Pinterest inspiration boards.

In her blog post, Kowalski described why she deleted her account. Basically, it's because the site's terms of use stipulate that those who pin photos to the site agree that they are the owners of the photos or have permission from the owners to post them. The terms go on to say, in all caps, "You acknowledge and agree that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, the entire risk arising out of your access to and use of the site, application, services and site content remains with you." This puts the entire risk of copyright infringement on the end user. And believe me, these stipulations pose real issues for working photographers.

Pintrest requires any user pinning a photo certify they own it. But isn't this really contrary to the site's purpose since it's designed to allow images to be rapidly shared? Sure it is. They're counting on NO ONE READING THE TERMS!

As an attorney, I'm here to tell you that there's very little a Pintrest user can do to avoid infriging on the copyrights of others by pinning/sharing photos you find across the web. The only way to be sure you're not infringing is to only share your own photos. I mean to say that repinning images already on Pintrest counts as an infringement. Scary stuff!

Plus, the DCMA protections given by Congress to IP providers don't filter down to end users. According to Bruce Johnson, an attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine, "The website may have DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) protections for user-generated content. The users don't and could be exposing themselves to a significant legal risk."

Pintrest Insists on Perpetual Non-Exclusive License

Pro Photographers should run from Pintrest because its terms of service provide that pinning/posting your photos on Pintrest release your control over it. In fact, Pintrest gets to alter it and sell it if it chooses.

Specifically, the terms of service provided:

"By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services."

With these terms of service, why would any working photogrpher post on Pintrest? It would be just a silly as posting in iStock Photo and not receiving royalties when iStock licensed your downloads.

We'll be watching this one....

This is My WPPI Video

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Sun, 4 Dec 2011 17:36:00 -0600

Thanks to the help of Christine Bonnivier, Owen Cameron, Lauren Barela, Melissa Britt and Missy Hughes under the creative direction of my lovely wife Ann Heidemann, we pulled off a great short film shoot for the WPPI Speakers film contest for WPPI 2012. Here's a link. Hopefully you think it's a funny as I do. My wife tells me that if I think it's funny, it's really not. Hopefully she's wrong this time!

Jeremy and Kristin -- September 10, 2011

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 23:23:00 -0500

Kristin and Jeremy were married Saturday in Monett and enjoyed the most fantastic weather of the year!! Got out to the Jack Henry campus for a little experience the day time and then back for Mass. Picture-Perfect All Around Day!! Wish every wedding was this much fun!!

1st Place Color at Ozark Empire Fair

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:41:00 -0500

Congratulations to my lovely wife Ann for her first place award at the Ozark Empire Fair in the color division. She made this picture responding to Joplin after the tornado with her insurance company, ANPAC. She shot this picture of an unknown man as he surveyed the damage to his Chinese restaurant. His head seems to rise above all of the wreckage and his face looks sad but determined. I love this shot! Good job Ann. Super proud of you! She also won third place color with another image she made on the same day while she was in Joplin. She really captured the mood of what was happening at the time. I was in Joplin last week, and despite the devastation and loss, the people I talked to are really positive and determined to rebuild. There's so much work that will have to be done over the next years, it's hard to imagine.

WPPI U - Atlanta, Georgia

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:15:00 -0500

What you didn’t learn in college, you’ll learn at WPPI U. Rangefinder will be hosting a 2 1/2 day workshop with a full slate of classes for emerging photographers. Classes will cover all of the essentials you need to know for your new business from top professionals in the industry. I'll be speaking along with Doug Gordon, Jasmine Star, fellow Missourian Sal Cincotta and others. Attendees will receive a course completion certificate from WPPI and a “WPPI U” t-shirt. Hope to see you there. Registration is now open.

Amy & Kyle E-Session 4/23

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 17:53:00 -0500

Nicole and Young Choe Wedding -- April 16

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:43:00 -0500

Children's Baptisms March, 2011

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:26:00 -0500

I was privileged to photograph the children's baptisms at Second Baptist Church on March 13 of this year. Such a lovely testimony to the decisions of these precious kids. What made it even more special was the opportunity to photography my daughter Abby as she was baptized on the day of her own birthday! Two birthdays in one this year! Hope you love the HD video...

10 Hardest Questions for Your Wedding Photographer

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Tue, 8 Mar 2011 18:40:00 -0600

Sure, today’s affordable digital cameras can make anyone seem like a good photographer. But there’s a lot more to getting the wedding photos you want and deserve than just pointing and shooting. After this most important and special of days, it will be your wedding albums and pictures that you turn to time and again to remember and cherish those once-in-a-lifetime moments. Choose your photographer as carefully as you’ve planned every other detail of your wedding, and you’ll still be enjoying those images years from now.

To help, we’ve put together a list of ten critical aspects of wedding photography you should know and understand, along with some of the most important questions you should ask prospective photographers to help you make your final decision.

#10 Samples: Do you have samples of your work I can see? Do you have a completed product exactly like we will receive that shows us one wedding from start to finish? Is this sample from the actual photographer who will be at my wedding or someone else on your staff?

#9 Image Preservation: What steps do you take to protect my wedding photographs and how long do you archive them? Can I come back in 5 or 10 years and get more photographs or replace my album if something happens to it?

#8 Equipment: Do you use professional-quality cameras capable of capturing great images in all lighting conditions, or do you use consumer-level cameras? Do you have backup equipment if something happens to your camera or lights? Can I have black-and-white photographs or can you add special effects if I want to? Do you bring additional lighting equipment if it is needed?

#7 Collaboration: Will I be working with you or someone else on your staff? Do you work with an assistant? What is the process for reviewing, selecting and editing the final images for the album, enlargements and print sets?

#6 Deliverables: In what format do you deliver the proofs? What is included in the price? What additional options or products are available and how much extra for those items?

#5 Time: What is the maximum amount of time I will wait to see proofs? Once I’ve selected my pictures, how long will it take for final delivery of all printed products?

#4 Quality: Do you print the photos yourself or do you use a professional lab or a consumer hobbyist photofinisher like one of the big box stores? Are the images guaranteed against fading for my lifetime or beyond?

#3 Style: What is your artistic style? Do you shoot traditional poses, or have a more photojournalistic approach, or is it mixed? Do you like to shoot in the studio or at different locations, as well as on the wedding day? Can I see examples of an entire wedding day shoot to see how you might tell a wedding day “story”?

#2 Experience: How long have you been photographing weddings? How long have you been in business? Can you provide references? Can I view some of your albums? How do you manage distracted or uncooperative subjects or guests?

And perhaps the most important thing you need to discuss with your photographer …

# 1 Assurances: How do you ensure my satisfaction? What are your backup plans in the event you’re late or called away by an emergency? What happens if there’s an equipment failure, or some other unforeseen issue? Do you carry liability insurance? Can I get all of the points we’ve covered in a written contractual agreement?

Do not take “no” for an answer to that last question! A written contract signed by all parties protects you and the photographer, and does more to ensure your wedding photo bliss than any other action or decision you can make.

Capture your dream with professional wedding photography

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Wed, 9 Feb 2011 22:34:00 -0600

A professional wedding photographer may be the most important investment you make, since your wedding pictures are the only lasting keepsake of your dream day.

While you don’t need a professional photographer for everything, your wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event. And your wedding photography will only grow in value and importance as the years go by. Shouldn’t you entrust it to a highly trained professional photographer, someone who will do you justice on your big day?

After all, when the cake is long gone and the dress is packed away, your wedding photography will be the one lasting symbol of your perfect moment…and you’ll be so glad you invested in professional wedding photography.

Metropolitan Bride Wedding Show

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 11:01:00 -0600

Don't forget about the Met Bride show at the expo center tomorrow from 11 to 4. Over 150 vendors will be out in force to help make your wedding day spectactular! For those of you that want to save $150 off any of our four fabulous photography packages, book your photography before or at the show and SAVE!

Best of Craigslist

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:33:00 -0500

I found this ad on Craigslist. It’s hilarious, it was obviously written by a professional photographer to try to get the point across about the value of having an experienced, professional photographer as your wedding photographer. Too many brides seem willing to trust their once in a lifetime memories to a "GWC" or "guy with camera". Producing images that make your jaw drop takes time, experienced, equipment and dedication. Read on...Maybe this photographer is for you...

Hi there! My name is Lindsay and I’ve just got a brand new camera for Christmas but haven’t even taken it out of the box. I really want to get into the wedding photography business because I see so many people in Springfield are getting married and it looks like easy money. I can’t guarantee that even one photo will turn out looking good but I sure will try. Some pictures will be used for my portfolio and my future website. I start booking appointments this week! I am now booking for Spring and Summer of 2011.

I specialize in all types of Lifestyle photography including:

Weddings – You’ll have to pay $15 for gas money outside of Salt Lake City
Bridals
Engagements
Families
Children
Portraiture
Fashion

My style is classy, elegant and artistic. I would be honored to be part of your special occasion or photography needs considering I have no professional experience. I would love to capture those beautiful moments for you and your family.

I have so much passion for being a pro wedding photographer! All my friends and family tell me I take great pictures at all our outings and picnics. I’m putting together a web site of all the flower pictures and sunsets I’ve taken so you can see how good I am. I even have a few pics of my pet dog which turned out really great!

But I don’t have a business license, liability insurance, flashes, extra batteries, or even more than a kit lens that came in the box. If something goes wrong, you’re out of luck. To keep things cheap for you, I won’t even back up any of your images. Less cost for me means less cost for you. Just passing the savings on. I expect to be paid in cash or personal check because I don’t plan on claiming this income on my taxes.

I know many fun and beautiful locations. I really care about making brides look beautiful! I add glow and selective color to all of my images, giving them the best look possible. No need to hassle with computer programs.

Bridals and Engagements are only $100. Please trust me to do your wedding. I’ll do it cheap just to build up my portfolio. I will only charge you $250 for your entire wedding day. This is a deal. My camera cost me $700 brand new. All sessions include a Hi Resolution CD with FULL copy right release included, which means you get to print your pictures at Wal-Mart! Here’s the BEST Part! I offer 100% guarantee on ALL my sessions! Don’t pay a cent until you are 100% happy with your pictures!

I own a camera therefore I can take photos like the pros, who charge a lot more. Most brides in Utah spend $2,500 on professional wedding photography. Since I have no experience I’ll only be charging $250 (90% off regular wedding photography prices) to shoot full day wedding coverage.

Think about it: Pros charge a lot of money because they have a lot of expenses. I don’t.

Pros have:
-a business license
- multiple cameras
-thousands of dollars in lenses and flashes
-hard drives to back up the images
-insurance
-experience
-people skills
-color calibrated monitors
-professional print labs
-professional albums

I have none of this stuff so we’ll keep it cheap, just for you!

Planning Your Wedding at Work?

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 09:10:00 -0500

Hey brides - Did you plan your wedding at work? Post your comments and funny stories below!

90 percent of soon-to-be brides plan wedding at work
Planning a wedding is so time consuming that nearly nine out of 10 women surveyed confessed to using company time to plan the big day. The survey also revealed most women believe they did more wedding planning than their partner.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38385192/ns/today-weddings

Weddings Costs Up but Our Prices Steady

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:02:00 -0500

According to a recent survey by WeTV, in the first half of 2010 the average cost of a wedding increased 21.9% from $19,581 (2009) to $23,867. Click here for the report. 45 product and services saw gains in spending while 26 saw declines. Planner/Consultant A La Carte Services (up 84.2% at $1,171), Gift/s for the Bride (up 53.1% at $253), and Planner/Consultant For Getting Started (up 50.4% at $920) saw the biggest gain in spending. Other Jewelry (down 61.7% at $304), Reception Accessories (down 55.3% at $200), and Ceremony Accessories (down 49.7% at $207) saw the biggest decline in spending. The biggest difference was the increase in demand for products and services. 53 products and services saw gains in demand, 4 saw no change, while 13 saw declines. Other Travel/Transportation (up 178.6%), Musician/s, Soloist, or Ensemble (up 66.7%), and Other Jewelry (up 65.2%) saw the biggest gain in demand. Facial (down 15.2%), Manicure & Pedicure (down 8.4%), and Teeth Whitening (down 8.1%) saw the biggest decline in demand.

The good news is that Apple Studios has not increased prices during 2010. According to owner Craig Heidemann, "Just because there's inflation in the industry doesn't mean that our client's have more money to spend." To schedule a consultation or to receive an email copy of our 2010 packages, call the studio at 833-7751.

Julia Diller Senior Session

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:37:00 -0500

Julia came down from St. Charles for her Senior Session Sunday. We had a blast in the studio and at Jordan Valley Park. Now I can say I've had the pleasure of the senior pictures for both of the gorgeous Diller girls! Take a look at her video. Hope you enjoy.

Wilcots/Williams Destination Wedding - Cozumel, Mexico

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Sun, 4 Apr 2010 10:26:00 -0500

Here was a fun gig, shooting this wedding and spending the week with this great couple Skey and Vanessa and their fun wedding party of ten. We were all limo driven from Dallas to Galveston and got acquainted on the way down. From there we cruised to beautiful sunny Progresso and shot some on the beach. Then we journeyed back on ship and sailed to Cozumel, Mexico to shoot their beachfront wedding at the beautiful Aura Cozumel Resort. I flew Missouri photographer Colton Salmons to Texas to assist and did a fantastic job shooting and assisting - thanks Colton!
The whole gang was a blast, full of great energy as we bounced around the beach in Galveston for a day. We ate and had drinks and went back on the boat for some fun at sea. We played mini golf on the boat, hot-tubbed and kicked around a lot on the ship. We all sat together for dinner every night as Colton and I got to know the group well and had great food and drink every night. The couple were so well dressed many strangers approached us and thought we were shooting celebrities - we ate that up.
Check out the highlight in this video slideshow:

Congratulations Skey and Vanessa, we wish the best to the both of you!

Radio Interview About Upcoming WPPI "Law School for Photographers" Platform Class

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:26:00 -0600

Check out my radio interview by Scott Sheppard from January 8th about my "Law School for Photographers" platform class in Las Vegas on March 9th from 3:30 to 5:00. Click here! We're going to have a fabulous time. Thanks to Millers for sponsoring me. We're going to have a high energy class with amazing give aways from my friends at Kubota Actions, Tafota websites, Triple Scoop Music, Totally Rad Actions and Animoto. I look forward to seeing my photographer friends, old and new there! The 30th anniversary WPPI convention is going to be the best yet. I'm looking forward to it. Don't forget we'll have products available containing all of the most up to date, relevant legal forms for wedding and portrait photographers available for purchase before and after the class.

Craig.

Apple Studios Receives Bride's Choice Award

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Tue, 2 Feb 2010 19:20:00 -0600

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Apple Studios Photography has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Wedding Photography!

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Apple Studios Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the wedding wire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the wedding wire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that Craig Heidemann and Steven Landis of Apple Studios are of the very best Wedding Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards.

Windows 7 64 Bit Upgrade Complete

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:57:00 -0600

I've debated on whether or not anyone would find this remotely interesting, but in the interests of saving other professional photogs a few days of their life, I thought I'd update on the peaks and pits of my upgrade experience. I was running Vista Home Premium 32 bit on a Dell Inspiron 530 w/ a 1TB internal drive and 4 gigs RAM. I opted to go with the 64 bit operating system to get access to my full RAM (4 Gig expandable to 12). For those of you on a 32 bit operating system, no matter how many gigs of RAM you cram in under the hood, your computer is only going to see/use around 3 or so. You can say what you want about why, but that's the way it is with 32bit systems.

In order to upgrade to Win 7 64 bit, you have to do a clean install. I used Windows backup in Vista to completely backup everything. Don't worry, Win7 will read your earlier backup if you choose "restore from different version." Some posters said you couldn't. You can. So as to not blow away Vista, I attached an eSATA 500 gig external drive and using Computer:manage, got it up and running. Then, you put in the Win7 disk and tell it to install to your new eSATA drive which becomes your new boot volume. When you boot up, boot manager will give you the option to boot Win7 or Vista. Because not all the programs run well on Win7 (e.g. Roxio 2009, Quickbooks 2009, etc.), you can go back and forth as needed with security.

I didn't have all the driver problems that everyone talks about with the exception of my 10 year old Visioneer scanner I bought for $25. Good excuse to upgrade! The install was quick and painless. Then the fun begins. You've got to do clean installs of all your earlier programs. If you were running upgrade copies, you get to enjoy the fun of going back and installing the earlier qualifying versions and then the upgrades. When I got to Outlook, I simply imported my mailbox and contacts which I saved as an export before starting the process. All my emails and contacts were alive and well on the new drive.

I'm running a Buffalo LinkStation Quad 8 TB NAS server, and I sent most of my wasted hours jacking around with it, network settings, static IP addresses and various backup programs. I was looking forward to Windows 7 because it has a moderately acceptable backup program which will facilitate a bare metal restore. But, it wasn't seeing any of my three WD MyBook 1 TB USB 2.0 drives. As a result, I went hunting for a decent Win7 backup program.

I tried GFI backup, Cobian and Comodo. GFI was the only one of the three I cared for. It is a little buggy but works. However, with the volume of data I'm moving across my Gigabit network, it was just plain slow. I mean after 3 days, I'd only completed 40% of my backup. I got tired and quit. I later discovered (after much searching), that Windows 7 backup will only let you backup NTFS formatted external drives. The WD drives were FAT 32. So then I had the fun of migrating all my data off them and reformatting them as NTFS. After that, Win7 backup saw them all and let me run the backup program to include them in the backup. Win7 is chugging along backing up now and is going much faster than GFI. What I liked about GFI is the email notifications for successful backup and backup failure. Backing up daily is critical for me in the photography business.

I love Win7. It boots up FAST, seems robust, and all the little bells and whistles like "troubleshooter" programs, which on Vista meant "click here to waste your time and get no results", actually work. The searching features are rocket fast and the ability to reframe windows splitting the screen is very useful. I think MSFT got it right with this program. While I've probably spent days longer than I should have getting this set up just right, it's going to pay dividends in increased productivity, data security and ease of access. I'll keep you posted. Let me know if any of you have had similar experiences (good or bad) with your Win7 installs.

Rochelle & Patrick's Wedding - Holy Trinity and the Diamond Room - 10/10/09

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 14:20:00 -0600

Rochelle & Patrick had a lovely wedding at Holy Trinity and reception at the Diamond Room. Before the wedding everyone ventured out to the Art Museum and Phelps Grove Park for a super photo shoot before the ceremony. The ladies looked ever so lovely and the light was perfect! Take a look at their wedding video and let me know what you think!

Lauren & Brian - E-Session

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:23:00 -0500

Had a fabulous engagement session with Lauren & Brian on Saturday morning. It was a balmy 45 degrees here in Springtown. We had to quickly slip Lauren in and out of her winter coat for these super cool shots (thanks to Caitlin Ball my assistant on the shoot for keeping track of the coat) and occasionally rub the goosebumps away. Brian must be warm blooded because he didn't even shiver. They're getting married in a few weeks so these may be the last pictures of them single!

Success Magazine

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:43:00 -0500

What a great experience I had shooting and assisting legendary photographer Christopher Barr on this wonderful editorial shoot for Success Magazine. The Osteens were fun and full of life. Check out the cover story in the current November issue in bookstands now.
-Steven Landis
Apple Studios

Jessica and Guy

cheidemann@apple-studios.com (Craig Heidemann) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:08:00 -0500

Jessica and Guy married September 12th at Temple Baptist here in Springfield. It was a beautiful and special day for both of them. It was really one of the best weddings I've been to all season. God's presence was definitely felt. Please enjoy a short video of their fabulous day.